Stop…just, stop!

Hey Friends,
Wow, it’s been quite a month. Not only is there so much going on with the world but it seems to be a trying summer for me in regards to health. As you know from our last entry that “bug” that I got the end of May has mutated and followed me around since then! Yes! It’s hard to believe. I don’t think I’ve ever been ill for so long. It’s been about 2 months and 3 trips to the doctor later!
I’m usually a healthy person, but I tell you…I must have gotten quite a strand of virus or whatever it was. I am hopefully pulling out of it but, wow…talk about making someone slow down!!! I haven’t been able to do very much. I show up for the show and that is about all I can muster these days.
My usual hummingbird pace has slowed to that of a sloth. I think I’m finally getting used to this different pace. It’s interesting; I was very resistant to this “cold”. I was fighting it all the way. Still moving too fast, taking all sorts of homeopathic things and my attitude was “come on get better”. After having it for so long, my thinking was more like, “Well, what am I not looking at…what am I not seeing…what is showing up for me in my life that is having me take a deeper look?” I started asking myself some tough questions, quite a bit of soul searching. I had to let go of “doing it all”.
I haven’t been in the place and space to really sit and be idle for so long until this illness. We’ve been moving fast for over a year. Well…my body just put on the breaks. Even now as I’m writing this I feel the weariness behind my eyes and my constant post nasal drip.
On top of that we have been dealing with our sweet dog Osa’s mortality. Yep. So sad. She has been the most amazing doggie. Quite the rock-star in my book! Her legs gave out on her and she couldn’t get up last week. I was her human wheel-chair for 4 days. This took Mo and I down quite an emotional road as we are seeing our baby come to the end of her days with us. Many friends are connected to her as well and if you ever met her, you know she’s a real special sweetie. A pure delight!
Our Zen dog, after much prayer, massage and some last resort medicine miraculously GOT UP AND WALKED! This was amazing. Now, I know they rally for us. I know it may not be a permanent health improvement and the end of her days are still nearing. But I can’t tell you how blessed we feel to have another day, more moments or perhaps another week…or even two…or hopefully a month with her.
I think in all this hard stuff I’ve been going through with health, and seeing my beloved dogie’s life passing by, the state of the world with people killing each other…I think it has opened up a space to really KNOW what is a priority and what is not.
Love is the only real energy that matters. Doing things with love and only love and if you don’t love it… don’t do it. Bring the love back to your life. Time, time by myself, time with my family, time with friends – these are priorities. I have found myself so stretched thin all the time and I’m really telling myself to “knock it off”. I am getting of the age now that I recognize the belief system that may be pulling me in a direction that is unfavorable, “I can’t be all things to all people”. I didn’t think I believed that, and even writing it seems weird…but I think a part of me tries. I am a very sensitive soul and not liking to disappoint I “feel” others expectations upon me. Well, with this illness I haven’t had the time nor the energy to address others. It’s been a foreign feeling.
I’ve only had time to take care of myself, to love on my dog and keep my head space positive and non pressured. I obviously was pressuring myself to a degree where my body shut down. When do we ever realize it? These things culminate over time.
Also in my sensitivity I feel the “weight of the world” feeling at times. The moon is now full and I feel lighter than I have in a month as I write this. My body is making certain that I take these “lessons” seriously and don’t start back on my roller coaster of too busy. We’ve been saying “no” to many gigs. We’ve cancelled. I’ve cancelled many appointments.
I’ve sat on the back porch listening to the wind through the chimes. I haven’t written a “to do” list in over a month. I’ve become one with my Zen dog as we just sit. Sit…idle…nothing…no guitar in hand…no book…no pen or paper…just sitting. It’s such a trip!
You try it and tell me how it goes. Do it for longer than 2 days…a week…a month…2 months! Ha! It was not easy at first. I’m beginning to like it now, ha! So different than where I was at in April springing around. This summer feels like winter to me, but it’s hot out. I haven’t worked out, gone for a bicycle ride, partied with friends…I really haven’t done much. Even the dust and the papers are collected on this desk. And…that’s o.k.
Apparently I needed a break. I get it. Nature provided me this time. Time to take it in, take in this beautiful doggy friend I’ve come to know and love for over 12 years. Not take myself or this career so seriously. Just do what I can. Enjoy what I can do. Love who I am in the moment. Not expect so damn much of myself all the time. Let things go. Let my house be a mess. Let go of those 100 e-mails I have not gotten to, stay away from computers, the phone, planning.
Have you ever wondered about Christmas time? Why is it so special? Because we get out of our normal routine…we stop. The same thing happens when someone dies. We stop. We don’t keep going. I mean sure, some people do and the world keeps turning. But remember 911? The whole world just stopped for a moment. The priority was the focus on love and the togetherness that we had as a human race. With all the stuff happening in the news these days…it seems the grand lesson is to just stop. Stop what we are doing. Be. Be for a while. Feel. Feel everything. “What are you trying to escape?” “What do you think you HAVE to do?” and is it really important in the grand scheme of things? “Who is in your life?” “What do you need to tell them?” “What are you telling yourself?” “What agreements have you made with yourself that you need to let go of?” “What brings you up?” “What lifts you?” “What do you love?” “If life were to end tomorrow what is it you need to do, say, be, go, experience?”
Yes, I’ve been digging. Digging deep. Illness can’t be controlled people. I’ve tried it. I am also not to blame for being sick! Ha! Some folks are like, “When are you going to get better!?” as if I could really do something about it (aside from take the best care of myself as I can). As if it’s my choice to not be 100%? The powers that be are working their magic. Making space for me to be, whatever needs to come through.
But I see that it’s not just happening to me. The world, our cosmic energy is shifting. Things are getting REAL! The moon is bright in the middle of this Wed. evening. I got to take Osa for a stroll in the moonlight at 2 am. I GET to do that again! For a little while longer. I’m stopping and making time for her. I’m putting down my phone. Putting down all things I thought I had to do. I’m being with my girl on her way out. She’s got all my attention. This world spins very fast, and faster yet are the people on this planet whirling at 100mph.
I’ve gotten off the fast track…for now. And even though illness may hold me for a while still…I’m feeling contentment and gratitude deep inside that is so much stronger than it’s ever been. I feel my Spirit emerge.
The mp3 of this month is a favorite that I’m learning. I’ve been singing it to Osa every day. I’ve always wanted to play it and for some reason never learned it, but while I was hanging out with Osa the song came to me and it hasn’t let me go all week. It’s a Towns Van Zandt song, “If I Needed You”. This song describes where I am at with her. It came to me and it’s the perfect thing to sing in her furry little ear, to let her know I am there for her, in this life and the after-life. She will always be with me.

Thank you Spirit, for slowing me down, enough to get some good quality time in with this pooch! All things happen for a reason…even illness. What a trip life is! Be well sweet friends. Go slow. Try stopping. Then go again. 🙂

Much love,

Niccole

Sicky in Seattle!

Hey Friends,
Well…we are back from our tour to Washington state. Just got in last night and drove through the extreme heat (101 degrees) on the way home. Whew! Thank God for air conditioning. Normally we rarely use it, but I was in no mood to sweat it out all the way home AND since we weren’t pulling the trailer this time, I didn’t see any real reason to “suffer” right? God gave us air-conditioning, so why not use it (*big laugh)!
We have a song that we cover now, by John Salz called, “You just have to laugh” and I bring this up because this tour was like that. “You just have to laugh, or you’ll go crazy, you just have to laugh, in between the tears…you just have to laugh, when it ain’t easy…open up your eyes and say hello to another day”.
I got incredibly ill on this tour. So much so, that my voice was stripped from me for several days! Yep! That’s right folks, a lead singer without a voice! I contracted a strange “laryngitis” type of virus, bacteria, whatever it was it was strong.
The Genesis went like this. 4 days before we leave for tour two men knock on our door. They have pencils dangling from their ears and I assume they can read the “No Solicitation” sign by the door. I say hello, “you must be builders, and can I help you?” One of them is French, so he was fun to listen to.
Basically they tell me the neighbor behind us is moving and is replacing the fence. If we have anything against the fence we need to move it. Well, that was good news but not good news. Yes, we need a new fence but what was the time line on the job? They said immediately. YIKES! Well, I told them we wouldn’t be back until the 7th so she’s going to have to wait as we were getting ready for this trip and in doing this it takes a great amount of preparation to leave home for several days (in this case almost 10).
Then the owner’s mother came over and we also got a phone call from the owner pushing us to move our things off of the fence line. Apparently the woman is in a rush to sell the place. So her crises became every one’s emergency and I really don’t like being operated like that. Mo talked me into complying with the woman which is a total role reversal. I’m usually the “hop to” gal and she’s good at saying, “no” and holding a boundary. So, not wanting to be a pain in the ass neighbor I took it on myself to start moving all the wood we had stacked up against the fence.
At first I thought, I’ll get 5 good friends to help and it will go quick. But I had so many appointments before leaving (lessons etc.) that I had no time to carve out and organize with other people AND I knew there were spiders and possibly bee’s in that pile so, I didn’t want my friends to be subjected to that. Then I said to Mo, how about I hire the kid down the road to move it. She did not have confidence that the kid would do a good job or it would take him too long. So, since she’s allergic to bees it was solely my job.
I started Sunday evening and in 2.5 hours had a lot of the junk wood moved. Now mind you, there was every kind of creepy crawler in that pile of wood that has been sitting there since 1962! Since WAY BEFORE we bought the place. I’m sure years and years of pollen, allergens, fungi, bacterial, spores, spiders, cocoons, eggs, vermin where running for their lives as I was disrupting their long standing homes. I worked until dusk and I quickly ran away from the pile as mud bees at the bottom started to buzz around. That’s it! I’m done for the night.
Now, back story…I was stung by bees as a little girl. Around 9 years old. A swarm covered me and I had received over 150 stings as my mother doused me with meat tenderizer on each sting. It was horrendous and fortunately I survived it and was not allergic. I had made peace with bees since then, but I have a deep respect for them. So, I buggerd off, until mid-night and while they were sleeping I sprayed the nest. I felt horrible committing murder in their sleep! Ugh! I HATED doing this!
Now the next day I was deathly afraid of the bottom layer of wood. Who KNOWS what’s lying under there? I have a few tough friends that make me feel tougher when I’m around them and this one friend in particular well, she’s quite tough and had the day off so, she came by for a couple hours and helped me finish the job. She went a little nutty with the bee killer when we discovered a few more.
I may have inhaled a little of that too and let me tell you…that is bad news right there. Anyone that doesn’t want to own a gun…just buy wasp killer as a weapon…that will MESS YOU UP~!!! Between that and all the dusty pollen that went down my pipe something stuck.
I felt fine when I finished the job. I had some other appointments and the next day came around. I woke, felt a small congestive like a sinus thing in my head in the morning but by mid-morning it was gone. Had some more appointments and then by mid afternoon, my eyes started to water. My throat felt like I swallowed a cactus and I started pouring on the home remedies. Gargling with salt water, taking Chinese Herbs, decongestant, wow! This was aggressive and we were leaving the NEXT DAY~! “How was I going to pack?”
Mo let me sleep in, knowing how crappy I felt. That meant for a late start and a long, long drive day! We were heading to a friend of ours Wed. in Seattle, then we would head to the Juan de Fuca festival in Port Angeles Friday morning for two performances.
I thought I might actually kick it on Thursday, I felt better. But oh no, when night came rolling around my eyes felt like burning saucers and my throat started to inflame. I knew this was going to be quite a challenge. I was doing everything to self medicate.
Friday came and we drove up to the festival. My energy was fine, but my head was a soupy mess! Little snotty singer, I was, who sounded and octave lower than normal. I was not at my best for sure and so disappointed not to be. Ugh! We practiced a few hours before going on and I realized my vocal capacity or “lack there of”. Honestly, I was a bit amazed that I could carve out a set list which stayed away from those vocal jumps I knew I didn’t have. My voice was missing its throaty middle tones and high middle tones. I could do the deep stuff and I could do the very high stuff, but the middle, where I sing often was super tender.
We played that night, and did a very good job considering. We got a standing ovation which made it very hard to give myself due to the fact that I was only running on 4 cylinders and I have a 10 cylinder motor! Ha! I let the tenderness of my voice be the platform and finessed with Mo very delicate harmonies, but songs like, “Life is Beautiful” were definitely off the list!
The audience cheered and asked for an encore and it was the first time, I really was not up for it, but what can you do? So we played them one, I had built it in just in case (thank God) so I was prepared. After that I was toast. My voice was done for and I felt razor blades in my throat. I tried not to speak but that is totally hard.
The next day, same thing, I was silenced. Mo kept fooling herself saying, “I think you’ll be fine by tonight.” I literally told her, “you are in denial, we are going to have to cancel or you are going to have to step up”. The show was only an hour and we had enough “Mo songs” to run for an hour. I will do my best to harmonize but honestly, I could barely do that.
I became the silent jester offering comedy that night, while Mo was the star of the show. She did a very good job. She was nervous as all get out. This was a show of 100-200 people sitting in close proximity and you can’t hear a pin drop between songs. It was on her to take care of all the dialogue and sing the songs. I think the dialogue freaked her freaky more than anything. Ha!
It was fun for me to watch her. Ha! I just smiled and silently joked. I played guitar, I had a great time. I was bummed we came all this way and I couldn’t do our specialty songs, but hey…now and then it happens right? So, I cut myself some slack and enjoyed Mo over there sweating. I knew she’d walk away with a new found respect for what it is I bring. Ha ha! And, she did! She was like, “that was the scariest thing I’ve ever done OMG!” Ha!
We learned a lot about each other. In fact, so much so that she is motivated to learn and WRITE more songs! I couldn’t be happier about that! That is good news, so…this trip inspired Mo to consider her place a bit more seriously in this business and it taught me that I need to pay a kid to do my dirty work now and then, ha ha, ha!!!
No, it taught me how much energy I extend all the time and I have to learn how to reel it in from time to time. Just putts around the house, and do nothing. My friend who helped me stack the wood never got sick. Of course she is a nurse and is exposed to cooties all the time. She said she had felt weird that night after, but nothing manifested like it did me. So, stress can definitely do it too. Too much on the plate, not enough relax time.
After Saturday’s show then the exhaustion hit me…like a brick between the eyes! So much so, that we stayed an extra day at our lovely host’s house and I lay in bed all damn day! Somewhat mortifying but hey, it happens to the best of us now and then right? You know that feeling of falling in front of everyone and people asking, “are you o.k.” It’s a little embarrassing right? Well, that’s how I felt. Particularly because I was fighting something last year when I went up there! Strange right?!
So, we stayed until Monday and we had shows last week on Wed. Fri & Sat, near our buddy Steve’s place in Bonny Lake area. I took it really slow when we got back. He wanted to go golfing with me, but I just couldn’t. I retracted and laid low. It was hard. The days were just gorgeous weather over there and I was saddled with a serious congestion that was creeping down my lungs and causing me to cough at random times.
I wound up going to the Doc in the Box in Port Angeles, you can see snippets of our tour from the movie clip. I spent $105.00 to see the doctor and he mainly said, “you need to rest”! Ha! Wow! Really?! He did write me a prescription for antibiotics but told me not to fill it for a few days. He thought I was on the down swing of this thing, and may not need them. I DID wait a few days and then I got on it because it was hanging in there like puppy on a tug-toy! He thought I had a virus and antibiotics don’t work on viruses. He said, “you have to just ride this out”. Now, I think it was the pollen and something else I inhaled and just flat out exhaustion.
Let’s face it, we’ve been to the moon and back since Feb. Plus a CD pre-release party and constantly on the go. I look at my calendar now with a bit of trepidation. We have 8 shows in the next 10 days starting tomorrow! I’m still not 100%. I have my voice back for the most part. 95%, but I was a lazy sloth today. This letter to you all will be my biggest accomplishment of the day! Ha!
So, the Washington tour taught me how to let go a little. Just be where I’m at and accept what is. I’m grateful for that and the people that made space for us to just be. I wrote in my journal a lot. I slept like crazy. I watched the trees for hours, blow in the winds ever so gently. So amazing that is! Almost more intriguing than watching the ocean waves, the movement was hypnotic! I trusted that all will work out. I have faith in Mo and her ability to sound like an angel. And to also let go and allow myself to falter a little bit. It’s hard when your health is not up to par, and you have so much you want to bring and give. Moral of the story…sometimes you have to give to yourself.
So we will soon post our video and the “You Just Have to Laugh” song for your enjoyment. Hope you dig it and hope you stay healthy throughout the season and give to yourself…and laugh a lot! I know we did! Be well fabulous friends!
Niccole

Winged Voices

Well Hello Beautiful Friends:

We are back from our travels (for a little while) and it feels really good to be home. Upon arriving home, road-tired, but with a smile on our face, we had only two days to literally, “get our ACT together” for a big local show here at the Sapphire Room in Boise. This was our second sold out show at the Sapphire! We send a hardy hello to all of you who attended the “Live at the Sapphire” show in April, 2014! You all brought the same incredible energy to last Friday night’s show (our pre-CD release “Keep Facing the Sun”) If our instruments and voices could have wings, you put them there that evening! Wow! We are still high from that incredible time with you to share our up-coming tunes, and see our new lead guitarist, Fritz Jones, and drummer, Blaine Johnston in action. Roxx as always, added her amazing harmonies to ours, and that, my friends, is called musical nirvana! We get lifted by your support and kindness, just as much as our harmonies may touch your hearts.

We are so grateful for your on-going support to follow this dream called “music.” We consider it a special privilege to be doing what we love for a career, and you make it happen dear friends! We simply couldn’t do it without you, so a very special thanks of appreciation to all of you who keep this ball rolling!

We have been offered more tasty, high caliber shows this year, and the best thing about it is, they are reaching out to us. No more long endless hours on the computer, going down cyber holes of music research, with very little return on the time invested. Part of the reason we keep getting invited back is because of folks like you! Staff at various venues always remark on how wonderful and kind our audience is, and that the entire experience we all bring when we get together is an amazing “feel good” time! So kudos to you, and your hearts and smiles that touch everyone is some way. You are a gift!
Much Love to you all,
Mo Kelly

Hitting the Studio!

Well Hello Fabulous Friends!

So much to let you all know so I hope this finds you well.  Go grab a cup of tea (or marshmallows) and let’s have a good time by this cyber fire shall we?

First of all, I want to tell you we have been working on a NEW CD!!!  Yes!  If you are reading this, you are the first to know about it although we are soon to tell everyone else too, but I wanted you all to know first!  So we have 11 songs that will be on this next CD and usually the other thing people want to know is WHEN!  Right?

Well, these things take time, I’m hopeful that by the summer (July) it will be out.  I actually think it could be sooner but who needs that pressure right?  I want it to be a great album so we want to take our time.  We already have guitar, drums and vocal laid down.  Tomorrow we lay down Bass! So most of my hard work is already done!  Yippie!

We slipped studio time in between our trip to California and Jackson and it’s been a pretty intense schedule.  But the GREAT news is…we are having fun!  Being in the studio again has really been enjoyable and I’m so glad because sometimes it’s not folks.  Honestly, sometimes it drags.  I mean, to make a project is ALWAYS fun…but I have experienced some difficult times trying to get people on the same page in what I would like to hear.  It’s a hard thing to convey.  But this project I had one intention in mind.  HAVE FUN!  And that has come through on the recording so far.  So I’m delighted to let you all know.

So since we are creating a new CD we will be having a celebration BEFORE we release it…ha ha! Why not!  I didn’t want the pressure of planning for a CD release party and having that rush the project, but we do feel like celebrating!  Our drummer/engineer Blaine will be with us as well as Rochelle Smith!  Sure to be a super great time.

Next is our stories from the Road:  (that sounds like a great book title, probably already exists)

We headed to Black Foot Idaho where we played in a little theater, about a 250 seat theater.  The turn out was not exceptional (as people don’t really know of us there YET…but NOW they do 😉  We had some great friends in the audience though and that made all the difference.

Especially when this guy kept standing up and saying, “Do you know any Merl Haggard?  How about Loretta Lynn?  Hank Williams Jr.?”  Ha!  I could feel the audience getting annoyed with him and he kept on doing it.  Mo said, “How about you book a party with us and we’ll learn those songs for you?”  Ha!  That was classic.  He wanted to be heard, indeed.

On break he came up and chatted my ear off about this group and that group and I educated him and told him that I am a “singer-songwriter”.  That means I write my own stuff and yes I do covers but we aren’t a cover band.  He was quiet the second set.  I think some other audience member said something more to shut him up.  After that, I think it was a really good show.

We stayed in a cool little house in Pocatello and the next day had lunch with a good friend, then made our way to Jackson Hole.  Dropping into that valley is so breath taking.  I never tire of the beauty that is there.

We stayed with our good friend Robbin for a week. She has an apartment over her garage.  Completely self contained and private.  We had some great days of downhill skiing, visiting with friends, tooling around the town, cross country skiing and then playing at the Trap Bar outside of Driggs ID.  Two bluebird days and I skied instead of boarding because there was no new powder.

There hasn’t been fresh powder for a while and this is not ideal for snowboarding.  In fact, I had a good friend give me her skis and trade up, so I finally invested in boots and bindings this year (thanks Marsha!).  My body is SO HAPPY!  I can be on the mountain and not kill myself.  Plus I still “got it” according to our good friends Bob and Joyce, who met up with us from Michigan!

Our show at the Trap was super fun.  Lots of people packed the place.  We played a mix of originals and covers and they seemed to like it.  Friday was better than Sat. it seemed.  I blamed the sunshine.  It was sunny Friday and we were fresher.  Sat. we had to go over the pass and it was snowy and icy which made for a very stressful trip over the mountains. We resolved to get a hotel room and stay in Driggs Sat. night due to the crazy weather that was happening.  That was a smart move.  The next day the sun was out, thank God and we made our way over the pass pretty easily.

We traveled across that pass 10 times that week!  Whew!  Lots of miles!  We were super lucky 8 out of the 10 times were relatively sunny and easy, but those other 2 times…yikes!

We woke up the morning we were supposed to go and there was a blizzard outside! Snow, sleet, freezing rain and a bit of hail!  What the hail!!!  The mountains were “growling” at us and we panicked and quickly packed the truck.  That was the fastest we ever got out of Jackson Hole to date.  Ha!

We got home and we immediately had a house guest, a meeting with the “Songbirds” then many lessons and appointments.  THEN! I did something I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD DO!!! But I made my mind up one day as I was loving on our precious big dog Osa.

“I’m going to get a tattoo!”  Yep….

Ok, so here’s the tattoo story:  (Ready?  Go refill your drink and come back…I’ll wait.)

 Got it?  Here we go):

When I was young I always wanted to get a tattoo, but of course it just never made sense to me to mark your body with anything that would be on you permanently.  I mean, what is permanent in our lives anyway?  We go through stages.  I mean, thank God I never got that Pegasus tattoo when I was 19!  Ha!  Or the smurf lifting a barbell LOL!  (I was into Steve Miller Band for a time.  Then weight lifting for a time too, still do it, but so grateful I don’t have a blue smurf on my body LOL!)  I mean that we fall in and out of phases in our lives.  Some of us have different primary relationships and that is always dangerous putting initials carved into our bodies.

And truthfully, I’m really not a tattoo girl.  I don’t think they are all that attractive.  Many of them look satanic and represent a dark side.  However, I have been intrigued by them and have seen some pretty cool ones.

To me it had to have a very special meaning in order for me to spend time under the needle and show it to the entire world.  What does that for me…what is it?

DOGS + Music = Love! Dogs for me have always been a place of safety.  Have I been bitten by dogs, yes.  Do some of them scare me, indeed.  But the dogs that I have owned have been such blessings.  To me they exemplify the unconditional love we all need with their waggy tails and happy attitudes.

Now, I have had brilliant dogs in my day.  Osa, for any of you that know her, is an exceptional spirit. (Here is her daily thing she does: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A8TD3KcXwY ) And dog lovers will “get” what I mean.  Part of my tattoo is Osa’s actual foot print wrapped in musical notes which is the chorus to “Life is Beautiful”.  The song has become a motto for life for me.  Really.  If I died tomorrow “Life is Beautiful” would be my eulogy. The heart in the paw brings it all together.

So, Osa is almost 12, and she is a big dog.  She is in the winter of her years.  There are moments when I am overwhelmed with the thought of her not being with us.  We are such a pod, the 3 of us.  We move together.  She has certain things she does and she reads us and we read her.  To me, doggie love has always grounded me, soothed my Spirit, helped make me whole.  And Osa has been quite amazing.  She looks into people’s souls and touches everyone she meets with a unique joy.  I could go on and on about her like a puffed up proud parent, but I think you get the idea.

This tattoo is my way of saying “Life is Beautiful” and I honor doggie love, unconditional love, and true friendship.  I proclaim with this tattoo that I honor all the dogs I’ve had and all the dogs that will come into the future.  I will ALWAYS have good dogs.  “Dog” is God spelled backwards and I acknowledge their unique gift.  I will ALWAYS love dogs and so therefore, this tattoo will never be ridiculous to me.  Ha!  Right?  I will never phase out of this.

And music! Can I go on about that?  I’ve met the most cherished people through music and dogs.  Honestly.  The greatest people in my life are met through music and dogs.  So there it is! I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for music!

Now, I did this tattoo 4 days after returning from Jackson, and that weekend I had many firsts!  My first tattoo, then that evening I carved my first carving at a party.  I loved doing this!

Can you tell what it is?  Yep, a Bear.  😉

Then I shot sporting clay with Bob and Joyce!  That was such a super fun time!  They are two of the most genuine and generous souls I know! Thank you Bob and Joyce for all you bring and all you give!

Sporting clay is something I’ve always wanted to try. My Dad was a big hunter so when I was a little girl I got my hunting license and that required us to shoot clay, but more like “trap”, which is a disc made out of clay that usually travels away from you.

I was 13 when my father took me for that test (to get a license) and I was in a group of about 50 boys except one other girl.  I was the first girl up.  All the boys struck out and didn’t get there clay.  I stepped up and knocked out all 3 of them.  I was almost embarrassed.  The girl who stood in line behind me got 2 out of 3 of hers.  And the boys got back up and shamefully missed.  I’ll never forget that experience.  The Dad’s of us girls were so proud.  I never did gravitate toward hunting, but had I known about sporting clay when I was younger that’s what we could have done instead.

Sporting clay comes from all directions and Joyce was kind enough not only to lend me her 20 gauge but also her warm shooting coat.  And since it was a cool day and I was in shorts for the first day of tattoo care, I graciously accepted.  I didn’t really feel the cold because it was so much fun to watch those two blow the clays to bits.  My victory was the rabbit.  The clay disc rolls along the ground and bounces and I got two in a row!  It’s such a Zen place getting the shot right!  I could tell before I pulled the trigger if I was going to hit it or not.  I guess you can really compare it to golf in a way.  A very focused activity.

I feel blessed to meet such great folks through music (and dogs)!  I also love doing things for the first time.  I’ve been on a kick with that too as we’ve talked about.

So now it’s time to pack up and get ready for McCall and then on to Oregon.  We have many big shows in OR, enough to make butterflies flutter in my belly when I think about it!  The crocus is already coming up.  Spring is ready to spring and it’s hard to fathom how fast the “sun runs”!  Wow!

Your downloadable MP3: is our first co-write, “Open Heart”.  Mo takes the lead in this song!  JIt’s wonderful to hear her pretty voice this song.  I hope you enjoy it.  It’s taken a long time to finally finish this song!

The Movie:  Moments at “Level One Recording Studio” with our Engineer Blaine Johnston.  You can check out the process. We play the song to a click track to mark the time and I sing.  That is called a “scratch track”.  Then, we cut in the drums, and I play REAL guitar with microphones to get a great quality guitar sound.  Then we sing over top of that.  So you will see some of the REAL cuts and some of the practice cuts.  And you will get to meet ChiChi, the killer dog.  What a case he is.  The bathroom for the studio is inside the house.  Well, ChiChi guards it well and about bites your leg off while you exit.  Crazy pooch!

We hope you are enjoying your cyber fire experience.  It’s pretty cool that you saw and heard the beginnings of, “I Give Thanks” and now get to see the real cuts!  JHope it’s been fun for you!  It has been for us and we do, “give thanks” for all of you!

Tailgating and Tahoe - There is a Place

Well HELLO friends!
How is everyone doing this NEW YEAR? We recently got back from NOT sunny California just last week. We needed a few days to recover, whew! Lots of driving! California needs so much rain; we really didn’t mind that it just poured while we were there. The Sun would peep out for short spurts and we were off to walk the dog and get our much needed exercise.
We had 3 shows to play and a host of people to see, mainly Mo’s family. She (Mo) was suppose to write this blog and in fact DID. The topic was going to be “roll-reversal” but after constructing 3 pages her words got stolen by the cyber space thieves and the document was “corrupt” in translation. (Don’t you just hate when that happens?) So Mo is pretty disgusted with computers right now and I’m stepping up to keep you informed about what is going on in our little part of the universe. Hopefully, I will be able get Mo to say a few words about visiting her cute little home town.
I have to say, it is wonderful to travel and explore but it is even MORE wonderful to come home again! Ha! It was a long time on the road (almost 2 complete weeks)! We had a wonderful time but it felt SO good to return to our own “mess”. Ha! I had a renewed appreciation for our little home and an even greater appreciation for the peace and quiet.
I realized the value of silence on this trip. Mainly due to the fact that there was a lot of noise (people talking and the TV blaring in the background). Wow. I never knew how much I needed silence. I remember growing up my mother always had the TV on. I thought nothing of it mostly. It was all I knew. She would have the news on and get all “revved” up about something political and we kids just got the hell out of there. Ha! Probably more than you wanted to know about me, but truly, TV has its place but it can drive me bonky! It’s constant static.
So let me tell you a story about our travels in Tahoe. I got the bajebees scared out of me due to the road conditions. I consider myself to be a pretty good driver but how good can you be on ice? Ha! The road conditions for the whole trip were pretty good. We had some fog on the way over and snow at the top of Donner Pass, but for the most part, it was fine.
However, when we rolled into Tahoe, it was icy. I have a Mercury Mountaineer all wheel drive and it’s a GREAT rig! But you know…California drivers like to drive right up your tail pipe! Around the lake was o.k. but as we went up hill (very STEEP I might add) to get through the residential section which is where we were staying for the night…crazy conditions! I put it in 1st gear low and my truck went up it fine.
What goes up must come down. Ha! We went to meet our host that evening and I knew we were going to have to come down that very steep incline and make a right onto a two lane highway in which traffic averaged 45 mph (over icy conditions). So I CRAWLED down the hill. Inching ever so slowly slipping the whole way down! These conditions created rut and no matter where you turned you were on a “fast track” out in traffic! Think of it as being on a ride in Disney Land, no control.
Needless to say, we slipped and slid and I said a few choice words. Osa licked my face to calm me down. I kept thinking there is NO GIG worth any of this! Fortunately the stars aligned and we didn’t slide into traffic.
We met our host and the next day, thanks to technology, I jumped on Google Maps and found an alternate route. I thought to myself, “The locals HAVE to have another way down this hill because the plow trucks are not attending to this or putting sand on it”. Sure enough there was an alternate route. But that whole incident stressed me enough to make me want to run from Tahoe! Ha!
As it turns out, we will be heading BACK to Tahoe to play for someone’s special birthday from the group we met in January. Funny how that happens!
So I DID get Mo to share a bit and here is what she wrote:
*****
So, to catch you up a bit on our most recent travels, we were on a hiatus in between shows for almost a week in California, hosted by family in a quiet little town outside of Petaluma. We played for my dad’s 81st birthday on 1/9, then spent the rest of the week exploring sleepy little Bodega Bay, Guerneville, Sebastopol, and Calistoga. We watched the ocean waves bash the craggy shores, walked among the towering redwood forests at Armstrong Park, and tooled around the small shops and business, making friends where ever we went. We soaked in the mineral pools in Calistoga, did some wine tasting, and toured a replica of a 13th century Tuscany castle called “Castello De Amoroso” Castle of Love. It took this gentleman 15 years to build; it’s made out of materials from all over the world and even has a torture chamber. This winery is completely self contained (they do everything on-site, even labeling) and we enjoyed a tour of its beautiful 145,000 square feet, 90,000 of which is under the main floor where they store their oak barrels full of the luscious goodness. It was super fun and creepy! You could so easily get lost in there.
Our other book end show was 1/17 in Lake Tahoe at the Center for Spiritual Living. We met lots of nice folks and most appeared very moved by our music. One enthusiastic gal, who was the sister of the woman hosting us wants us to come play for her birthday in early April. And so divine intervention occurred and we are headed back that way to help her celebrate another beautiful trip around the Sun!
1600 miles round trip and 92.9 gallons of gas later we arrived home, most grateful for this incredible place that we live with such beautiful people. I’ve had folks visiting say “this city (Boise) is awesome, it’s like coming to a town of golden retrievers; everyone’s so happy, and smiling and wagging their tails!” I can’t think of a better compliment.

So here’s a waggy tail for all of you! May you be well, may you enjoy the special precious moments, and may the things that you most love always be there to bless your life and your journey. Till next time friends!
*****

Radiant love!

(me again…aka-Niccole)
Mp3: You will note our featured song, “There is a Place”, Mo is being highlighted singing a song by Cinde Boupe and Beth Pederson (of Sandpoint Idaho, Cinde passedin ’88).

This is a funny story. We’ve ALWAYS loved this song and we decided to sing it at CSL in Boise for their service. I didn’t learn it on guitar because it’s a piano song and Rex Miller, the director of music at CSL plays the piano wonderfully. So I sent him the song, he learned it. We go to rehearse (20 min. before we play for service) and he plays it in a key that I tried to sing lead and it is WAY too high. But Mo starts singing and it all became clear to me….this is a Mo song!
I looked at her and said, “You are going to lead and I will harmonize to you!” Her eyes got big and I laughed and said, “this is going to be fun!” And it WAS!!! So we’ve never practiced this before and this is the first and probably only time you will hear it because neither of us play piano. I’m super proud of Mo (and my on the fly harmonies aren’t bad either)! It was fun to change it up and I think her voice serves this song in such a great way.
We hope you like it! Thanks for checking in~!
Enjoy!